In 1913, photos of the Nataraja bronze from the Chennai Museum inspired Auguste Rodinโs text โThe Dance of Shivaโ. Written at the end of his life, this vision of Shiva, โLord of actor-dancersโ, revealed the underlying links between Rodinโs dance sculptures (1910), the Cambodian dancer drawings, his private collection of antique Venus and Buddha sculptures and wood carvings from India. Through his androgynous vision of Shiva the cosmic dancer, Rodin invites us not only to a new reading of his work but also opens the door to a new vision of Indian theatre and dance. The connections that he suggests between sculpture, poetry, dance, theatre, music, photography and architecture have a particular contemporary resonance.In this book historian, artists, poets, both French and Indian, bring us a new international vision of Rodinโs work.
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